Mt. Meru, by Hannah

For my 16^th birthday (which was back in September), my parents gave me a trip with dad to Arusha, TZ to climb Mount Meru, the 5^th highest mountain in Africa. The hike began January 28 and we would be on the mountain for three days--two days up and one day down. Meru was once a volcano that erupted with such force it blew one entire side of the mountain away and left a huge crater encircled with a sharp ridge and cliffs. The climb begins on the crater floor and then ascends the outer wall of the ridge.  

            After arranging park and ranger fees at the gate, we began a 6 hour hike of 1000 meters (About 3200 feet) to the first camp, situated at 2,500 meters above sea level. The scenery on the way up was stunning as we passed through dense, lush forest where giraffe, monkeys, and Cape buffalo freely roamed. Tree branches intertwined in a canopy at least 40 feet above us.

 The second day was equally beautiful with very different vegetation thriving in the thick clouds that float around the tree line. Spanish moss hung from the branches like snow and the entire forest was very ancient and untouched. The trail was steeper than the first day, as we were ascending another 1000 meters in only 4 hours. At the halfway point in the trail, it began pouring freezing rain and hail on us. As we had sent our coats and other cold gear on ahead with the porters, we had only thin long-sleeved shirts in our packs, and these were soon drenched.

 There was nothing to do but keep moving in spite of our numb hands and chilled bodies. When we finally reached Saddle hut at 3500 meters, we tried to dry some of our supplies out and warm ourselves up with many cups of chai. That evening after the rain had ceased, we did a short acclimatization hike up ‘Little’ Meru, a smaller peak opposite the summit.

             In order to reach the summit by sunrise, we awoke at midnight to begin climbing the jagged peaks leading to the top. The hike took 5 hours as we ascended yet another thousand meters to the summit. This portion of the climb was very rocky and steep and much of the time we were trudging through thick ash. Nothing grew at all save a few tiny yellow flowers here and there. Thick clouds were buffeting us constantly from one side as we walked an edge with vertical cliffs on one side and a steep ash slope on the other. 

  The mist and darkness made it impossible to see anything beyond several paces forward. The landscape was so desolate that it felt like we were walking on the moon with nothing green or alive in sight. Nearer the summit snow lay 3 inches thick over the trail and the rocks were slick with ice.

            At around 6:00 we reached the summit of Mount Meru. The mist hid everything from view and as it was still dark and freezing cold, we stayed only a few minutes before we began our descent. However, on the way down the mist cleared for about an hour and we had stunning views of the crater, the ash cone, and the valleys surrounding the incredible mountain.

 We got back to Saddle Hut at around 8 and rested briefly. Because we had chosen the three day trip we had to descend the entire way to the gate in one day. Over about 19 kilometers we descended more than 9000 feet on the steep trail. By the time we reached level ground our legs were like gelatin and our feet ached.

 Mount Meru is the most spectacular mountain I have ever seen and I hope to one day climb it again!